Most forms of social media content are vulnerable to loss and owned by platforms with no contractual or legal requirement to preserve individual users data. Digital preservation enables reproducible research; without preserving social media, research cannot be reproduced.
The long-term preservation of social media data faces a considerable number of challenges, mostly from the restrictions imposed by platforms and the ethical dilemmas of re-using individuals social interactions without their awareness (Thomson, 2016; Voss, et. al., 2017). These challenges demand that
hard-earned best practice in digital preservation is just as relevant to social media as to eBooks or PDFs. It borrows lessons from other sectors, such as the parent practice of web archiving to the emerging field of video game preservation, in order to suggest creative solutions.
place names, an institution demonstrates a commitment to protect the individuals represented in the data. Restricting access to social media data collections to only registered or credentialed users also reduces risk. 6 Institutions might also consider publishing a statement about how it uses social media data and the
The legal community is aware of the power that social media evidence can lend their case; however, many legal professionals don’t know the best practices for preserving & admitting social media content into evidence. This webinar will provide legal professionals of all backgrounds a solid understanding of leveraging social media evidence in court.
This webinar is intended for an advanced audience and may require a basic understanding of social media as well as an advanced comprehension of discovery & evidentiary rules. Attendees will learn strategies from a social media law expert which will help you :
Ethan Wall founded Social Media Law and Order to pursue his passion for educating, consulting, and training users on all areas of social media and the law after practicing social media, Internet, and intellectual property law at a prestigious law firm for seven years.
Spoliation of evidence is the destruction or alteration of a piece of evidence, or the failure to preserve property that may be reasonably expected to constitute evidence in an emerging case.
Destroying or altering content published (regardless of privacy settings) on a social media platform that has been established as evidence by the court or that a reasonable person may conclude would be relevant in litigation constitutes spoliation. Here are a few examples of what that could look like:
Consequences of spoliation in civil court will depend upon the nature of the spoliation and the specific jurisdiction. Sanctions could include dismissal of the action, fines, attorney fees, judgment in favor of a party, or an adverse-interference instruction.
Isaiah Lester and his wife, Jessica, were involved in a tragic car accident when an Allied Concrete Co. truck lost control and flipped onto their vehicle. Jessica later passed away from her injuries. The driver of the truck pled guilty to manslaughter.
If you are recognized to be in control of social media content that will need to be preserved as evidence, you must do your due diligence to avoid intentionally or negligently destroying that property. To do so, you can: